The Future

I’ve really been inspired to write this post by a couple of things.  First was an interview with Leonard Sweet that is in the November/December issue of K! Magazine.  Second was a response we here at KidzMatter got in response to a question we asked in our newsletter several months ago.  These things have really gotten me thinking: how is children’s ministry going to cope with the future?

We live in a basically postmodern society, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.  People in the church tend to cringe at the mention of the word “postmodern”.  It’s come to have a negative connotation to us.  But does it have to?  Postmodernism can only be just touched by these short words describing it: anything is possible, tolerant, diverse, loves options, lack of absolute truth. That last one is where we as Christians get hung up the most.  But why?

As part of one of the first truly postmodern generations in America, I can kind of speak from experience.  The modernists before my generation said that there was an answer for everything, that everything could be known, it was just a matter of time.  Everything was answerable.  Postmodernism refutes that, saying that everything is questionable.  Postmodernism in the church has taken what the generation before them did, and totally flipped it.  The postmodern church values tradition, yet loves new approaches; wants stability, yet flexibility; needs morality, but doesn’t want to force it; sees a faith with a horrible image portrayed to the world, and wants to change it.  Some scholars find this moment in Christianity so important they’re calling it the second Reformation.  That’s where we have to find balance.  We have to admit that there are basic truths in Christianity: God is head, the 5 solas of the First Reformation, and the basic truths.  But we have to be willing to admit that there are some things we can’t answer such as the exact future of the world and some of the more debatable doctrines of the Bible.  Striking that balance between the two is where our ministries have to head.  So what can we do to prepare our children for this future?

1. Teach them God’s basic truths. We have to firmly plant in the kids we reach every week the basic truths of God’s Word.  These are the final truths.  God has given us a basic set of beliefs, and we need to stick to them.
2. Allow them to probe and question. I thank God that I grew up in a home where I was allowed to question my beliefs, and figure out why I believed what I did.  During the early years of my teen life, I questioned a lot of what I knew.  I changed some of what I believed, and kept some of it them same.  I wasn’t just believing these things because my parents or church taught me them, I believed them because I felt they were mine to believe and I had a reason of my own.  Your kids have to be allowed to do the same.  It may not be easy, but you have to let them explore a little.
3. Don’t pretend to have all the answers. EVAN PET PEEVE VENTING ALERT: This is one of my biggest pet peeves with Christians- the ones who “have it all figured out”.  They have every answer to every thing, and bless God, you’re not gonna change it.  I HATE that.  There are some things we just can’t know in our Christian walks!  Don’t pretend like you know everything, and don’t be afraid to tell a kid “I don’t know.”
4. Give them choices. Don’t just lay down the law 100% of the time.  Give kids the opportunity to choose what they want to do.  Postmoderns value choice, and they need to feel involved and cared about.
5. Love them unconditionally. Let’s face it, kids are human too.  Sometimes they’ll do really stupid stuff.  Sometimes, they’re just a little quirky.  (Some more than others, amen?)  They’re never going to attach to you as their children’s leader if you can’t love them in spite of who they are.  If you’ve got a child from the inner city in your church who may smell a little funny, love them.  If you’ve got a kid with special needs, love them.  If you’ve got a kid from a broken home, love them. If you’ve got that kid that absolutely drives you nuts, love them. If you’ve got just an average joe kid, with a happy family and no real problems to speak of, love them just as much.  Jesus didn’t decide which people to love more, so why should we?